[Randy]

Johnny told his Momma, Hey Momma I’m goin’ away
I’m gonna hit the big time, gonna be a big star someday
Momma came to the door with a tear drop in her eye
Johnny said, Don’t cry Momma smile & wave goodbye

Johnny made a record, went straight up to number one
Suddenly everyone loved to hear him sax the song
Watching the world go by, surprisin’ it goes so fast
Johnny looked around him and said, Well, I made the big time at
Last

thats all I know that!

[Randy]

Relax and practice the high notes over and over until you are consistent with them. you can not do altissimo on a consistent basis until you do. I remember having the same problem as you it is caused mostly by tension and when you anticipate you blow it with tension. I had to teach my self like this……make a effort to relax before you get to the note! good luck

[Randy]

One of the dynamics to the sound we hear while playing a saxophone is that the bones (jaw, skull and eardrum ) all receive the sound waves we hear from the horn so when it reaches the eardrum and we hear that sound it is a very different sound then what is produced out and away from the bone structures. Singing is very much the same. We are often surprised by what we think we sound like. The other part of recording is you can really fine tune your sound, articulation, breath control by listening to yourself. Johnny is right record as much as you can and save those old files then go back in 6 months and listen to the old you will likely be pleased at your progress!

[Randy]

Johnny I would be happy to post the example.

http://www.lateeditionband.com/downloads/boots.mp3

Its fast and I really have tried to slow it down and get it so it will take some time. Johnny I would love it if you could show us your version of doing this and maybe an accending scale or note pattern to practice with.

[Randy]

will do I will try and find a couple examples for you.

[Randy]

sorry looks like it s working now sorry for some of the repost as I did not think they went through. maybe you can delete the repost!

[Randy]

if you are looking for one like Johnny’s this one is similar
http://www.saxophon-service.de/saxxas/saxxas.html#price

I had problems with Theo Wannes with sound and slipping so I moved on.

[Randy]

A note on Theo Wanne I used them on my tenor and alto and felt there were 2 problems for me. the lig seemed to kill the buzz or some of the vibration in the horns, I moved them around and loosened and tightened without much luck. the second being that the ligs would slip on the mouthpieces. that was a problem when you are performing and that put an end to my Theo Wanne ligs, as I had to move on. The quality was very good on the ligs though.
If you are looking for one similar to Johnny’s try
http://www.saxophon-service.de/saxxas/saxxas.html#price

[Randy]

Thanks, it makes sense,
Then my next question is if the band calls out Key of A
how do I know its a B7 cord or a basic blues scale in B or a Bm scale?

guess I should read the book I bought !

Maybe I only have a 4th grade music theory education not 5th.

Thanks

[Randy]

We play Get it while you can and Hey Bartender both in C. (Dm works for Hey Bartender). I have to guess that Get it while you can we play in Cmaj because I am using the D major scale….whew! I think it is a communication problem with the Key definition from my guitarist. Problem solved!

I guess what I am looking for is a more general understanding of what to do when the relationship of a key is called out and what to do when your basic blues scale does not fit. It may be the way my band is calling out the key, I am not sure. but as a sax player I would figure you only have a few choices to fit into a scale. Basic blues, minor, major.
Third example was we play Seeing Things in A so I expect that on my tenor I would play in the key of B. 2 steps up from A, this does not seem to work for the basic blues scale or Bm which is B,D,E,F#,A,B…This does not fit… but what does fit the song is the scale Eb, F#, G#, B. I can use these notes to solo. I thought that scale was a G#m scale. So How did I get from an A to a G#m on a tenor transposing wise it does not make sense if we typically move up 2 steps up to transpose for the Bb tenor from concert key. This is the one that has me the most stumped Hope that clears my question up! Thanks for your patients and guidance!

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